Author: Dan Hiergesell

Undefeated rising sensation Keyshawn Davis captured his first major world title last night (Fri., Feb. 14, 2025) from inside the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, defeating Ukrainian champion Denys Berinchyk with a gnarly fourth-round knockout (body punch) to walk away with the WBO lightweight title.

Davis, who made a name for himself after winning silver at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the most promising young names in boxing today. However, the 25-year-old was facing his toughest test to date on Friday night as we he went up against Berinchyk. The Ukrainian fighter carried an undefeated 17-0 record into this weekend and also captured Olympic silver back in 2012.

Fortunately for Davis, he was able to do what he does best and completely overloaded Berinchyk from the opening frame. In turn, Davis was able to find his range and waited for the perfect time to exchange with Berinchyk in close quarters. This resulted in a massive left uppercut to the body in Round 4 that shut Berinchyk down and ended the lightweight main event matchup.

Check out the violent finish in the above video player and more angles below:

Davis, who turns 26 later this month, now joins the ranks of Gervonta Davis, Vasiliy Lomachenko, and Shakur Stevenson as boxing’s four active lightweight champions. That’s incredible company to have if you’re “The Businessman” and it should set him up for big things as 2025 unfolds. After all, Davis only needed 14 fights to win his first major world title, which is tied for second fastest all time.

While many felt like Sean Strickland squandered his title shot against UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis at UFC 312, fellow middleweight contender Jared Cannonier had no issue with Strickland’s five-round performance.

In case you missed it, Strickland lost a lopsided decision to du Plessis last weekend in their rematch for the undisputed middleweight title. Strickland pulled his usual pre-fight antics by promising fight fans a war to the death only to come up considerably short when it mattered most. The former UFC champion did break his nose during the fight, but that shouldn’t be an excuse for not pulling the trigger and trying to find a way to finish the fight in the later rounds.

Many people — including Strickland’s head coach Eric Nicksick — have criticized Strickland’s performance over the past week. Fans are beginning to wonder if Strickland can ever be the balls-to-the-wall brawler that he claims to be. It has put a lot of pressure on Strickland to defend his lackluster title shot and try to save some face among his fellow middleweight contenders.

Fortunately for Strickland, not everyone is ridiculing him for a subpar performance at UFC 312. Cannonier, who will headline this weekend’s UFC Vegas 102 fight card against Gregory Rodrigues, didn’t have too much of an issue with Strickland’s five-round dud. That’s because Strickland did break his nose and even though he didn’t “die” inside of the Octagon he still fought hard.

“Congratulations to both competitors for making it out not as concussed as everybody hoped they would,” said Cannonier during UFC Vegas 102’s media day earlier this week (h/t MMA Junkie). “‘To the death.’ Everyone keeps repeating it and throwing it in Sean’s face. It was a scrap as expected. DDP fought as expected, Sean Strickland fought as expected, and we’ve got ourselves another championship fight in the books.

“I thought he went in there and competed for five rounds in a world-title match, and came up on the short end of the stick with a broken nose,” Cannonier said of Strickland. “People wanted him to sustain more damage than that. We live in a sadistic world where people want to see other people go through some sort of pain and take pleasure out of that.”

It was a coming out party of sorts for undefeated lightweight boxer Abdullah Mason earlier tonight (Fri., Feb. 14, 2025) from inside the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, as the knockout puncher scored a blistering stoppage on the undercard of “Denis Berinchyk vs. Keyshawn Davis.”

Mason, who turns 21 in less than two months, came into Friday’s affair a large betting favorite to handle business and push his undefeated professional boxing record to 17-0. His opponent, Manuel Jaimes, is a young up-and-coming fighter as well, but with a few losses already on his record the 24-year-old wasn’t expected to pull off the upset.

That said, fight fans have seen crazier things play out inside of the boxing ring. Fortunately for Mason, Friday night didn’t produce a shocking upset to start 2025. Instead, Mason completely styled on Jaimes and dominated the fight from the opening bell. This includes multiple knockdowns and an eventual TKO finish in Round 4.

All in all, it was a tremendous showing for Mason as he delivered the goods in front of family and friends. This wasn’t the first major boxing card that Mason has competed on, but it’s a standout performance boxing fans will certainly remember. The fourth-round stoppage now gives Mason a 88-percent finish rate since turning pro back in 2021.

Check out Friday’s video highlights below courtesy of Top Rank Boxing:

Ilia Topuria hopes to be fighting UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev sometime soon and “El Matador” is confident he’d find a way to finish the pound-for-pound king.

Given the massive success Topuria has had as UFC’s undisputed featherweight champion, it’s only natural to discuss a potential move up to 155 pounds. After all, Topuria is coming off back-to-back knockout wins over UFC featherweight legends, Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, and is running out of deserving title contenders at 145 pounds. Topuria has also looked completely dominant in victory which has fight fans wanting more.

Nowadays, that means an opportunity to become a two-division UFC champion.

Makhachev hasn’t shown much interest in a potential fight with an out-of-shape Topuria, but it may be an inevitable matchup considering Makhachev is running out of new lightweight title challengers. Topuria does fit the mold as a 155-pound fighter and certainly has the skill set to give Makahchev a run for his money.

In fact, Topuria believes it would only be a matter of time during the fight before he lands a knockout blow and puts the champion away. The featherweight king is also standing on his belief that he could submit Makhachev if the fight hit the ground. Check out Topuria’s recent comments below (via Full Send MMA) and let us know your thoughts on the potential lightweight superfight!

“We all know at some point I will connect that punch, everything will depend on what God will decide… if he wants to send Islam to sleep or not. Who knows that. I know that.

“I can also submit him.”

Dricus du Plessis retained his UFC middleweight title last night (Sat., Feb. 8, 2025) at UFC 312 LIVE on ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV) from inside Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia, beating former foe Sean Strickland into a bloody mess for five-straight rounds (highlights HERE). The co-main event of the evening saw reigning UFC women’s strawweight champion Zhang Weili hand a previously undefeated Tatiana Suarez the first loss of her professional career.

In addition to the two marquee title fights, UFC 312 played host to a collection of high-tilt, fan-friendly matchups. It may not have been the most stacked card of the year, but the action certainly didn’t disappoint. Check out some key moments below:

• Quillan Salkilld turned in an impressive 19-second knockout over Anshul Jubli in his official Octagon debut
• Promising featherweight prospect Gabriel Santos scored the biggest win of his UFC career with a third-round submission finish over Jack Jenkins (see it HERE)
• Towering 6’7” heavyweight newcomer Tallison Teixeira looked impressive with a 35-second elbow TKO over Justin Tafa
• Lightweights Rongzhu and Kody Steele turned in one of the best fights so far this year, but it was the China’s Rongzhu who walked away with the upset win

To sift through the action and see which fighters took home an extra $50,000, we take a closer look at the official UFC 312 post-fight bonus winners below:

• Fight of the Night: Rongzhu vs. Kody Steele
• Performance of the Night: Quillan Salkilld
• Performance of the Night: Tallison Teixeira

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For complete UFC 312 results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.

Gabriel Santos put the featherweight division on notice earlier tonight (Sat., Feb. 8, 2025) at UFC 312 LIVE on ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV) from inside Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia, surviving an early knockout scare to earn a third-round submission (rear-naked choke) over tough-nosed striker Jack Jenkins.

Santos came into this fight a sizeable betting favorite given the level of competition he’s faced early on in his UFC career, but it was Jenkins who struck the first blow. The Australian native connected with a massive head kick that nearly ended the fight. Santos somehow survived and caught Jenkins in a triangle choke attempt. He allowed him to get back into the fight.

From that point on, Santos put on a clinic with a well-rounded attacks and more pressure with his grappling. After landing a beautiful front kick to Jenkins’ face to begin the third round Santos would end up getting back control along the cage and sunk in the choke. Jenkins was forced to tap in front of the Australian faithful and hand Santos the biggest win of his career.

Check out the video highlights below:

Santos, 28, was thrown to the wolves and ended up losing his first two UFC fights to Lerone Murphy and David Onama, but the Brazilian prospect is finally settling in. Jenkins is a tough out at 145 pounds and outside of the early first-round head kick Santos ultimately had his way. It will be interesting to see what “Mosquitinho” can do as he ascends the featherweight ladder in 2025.

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For complete UFC 312 results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.